Ragdoll History

In the
beginning...

The Ragdoll cat is a relatively new breed of cat, its
origins are clouded in mystery. It orginated in Riverside California with a woman named Ann Baker. The breed
allegedly began when a white angora persian cat named
Josephine was hurt in a car
accident this event was attributed to the reason that Josephines kittens were very laid back and good natured. Fortunately,
Josephine was not seriously injured and went on to
have more litters, from which the Ragdoll cat breed
evolved. The ancestors of today's Ragdoll kittens all
evolved from Josephine. Every Ragdoll must be able to be traced back to Josephine and an extensive list (in the USA) shows every
breeding cat from Josephine right down to todays
breeders.

Josephine with her kittens, 1965 Left to Right, Geuber,
Mitts, Tiki and Kyoto.

The line began when
Josephine had a litter that was sired
by an unnamed male, said to have been the Sacred Cat of
Burma which produced Raggedy Ann Daddy Warbucks. Their breeder and owner, Ann Baker, realised that this litter was different from any
of Josephine's previous litters and that
these kittens were special because she realised that she had a handfull of kittens with
some remarkable traits and knew that she had to explore the new breed that she
had stumbled upon, some may say by accident. Ann
Baker kept some of the litter from which to breed further and see how the
kittens would turn out. She found that the kittens bred true, and this still continues down to the Ragdoll breed as it appears today.

Original Ragdolls...

Daddy Warbucks was
registered as the first ragdoll in 1966, he is the first mitted ragdoll he
had a narrow white blaze on his nose and a white tail tip.
Raggedy Ann Daddy Warbucks was also mated with a black
persian Blackie to produce Raggedy Ann Buckwheat, a self female.Raggedy Ann Buckwheat was mated back to her father and
produced Raggedy Ann Tiki and
Raggedy Ann Kyto.Raggedy Anne Fugiannas
sire was Raggedy Ann Daddy Warbucks, mother
was Josephine.
After this, there were
no further outcrosses allowed, colour selection has remained with the standard four
colours of Seal, Blue, Chocolate and Lilac
.
(NOTE: New colours of RED and CREAM have resulted from recent
specialised and AUTHORISED out-crossing programs.)

Buckwheats kittens, Kyoto on left seal
mitted and Tiki Chocolate Colorpoint. They would be become the foundation
for the Dark Side.

Fugianna became the first ever Bi Color Ragdoll and would
become the foundation for the Light Side.

A unique and
unexplainable phenomenon is the three types of Ragdolls available, these being Colourpoint, Mitted and Bicolour. (NOTE: Again, the new
types of TORTIE and LYNX have been developed during the above mentioned recent
out-cross programs.)

Foundations...

The Ragdoll cat which was founded in California by Ann Baker and
which had most of its very early breeding also done by its founder has suffered
from a unique legend and a lot of misunderstanding. When Ann
Baker sold her kittens she did so under strict guidelines. Their
pedigrees were crested with the IRCA (a ragdoll association established by Anne
Baker) symbol to prove that they were traced directly back to Josephine. Purchasers wishing to breed were expected to do
so under a strict selling licence.

Improvements...

When the Daytons of Blossom-Time cattery purchased cats from Ann Baker, they rebelled against the stringent trading
terms and breeding guidelines. They began a long campaign to get the breed onto
a sound genetic footing and to obtain recognition from major cat organisations.
This was done so that Ragdolls could be shown and
recieve the recognition that was due to this wonderful breed.

The Daytons were able to balance the genetics of the breed and
avoid too close inbreeding by advocating that matings take place between the
"dark" side and the "light" side. The dark side descending from Raggedy Ann Tiki who had a black grand dam (the black
Persian) and the light side descending directly from Josephine (the white Angora Persian). Their plan went a
long way in the development of the typical Ragdoll
type of today.

Currently...

Fortunately, there are
many more Ragdoll cats around today and we no longer
need to worry about the dark to light breeding program. With the amount of Ragdoll cats available today, we believe that breeders
should only inbreed up to 25% over 5 generations and to select cats for breeding
based on fertility, freedom from disease and defects, and body type as oulined
in the Ragdoll show standard. (NOTE: Although each
feline association has their "own" standard, they are ALL very similar. However,
we still recommend that breeders obtain a copy of the specific standard
appropriate to their club or affilliate.)

The Future...

As breeders, we need to
be very carful that the Ragdolls we breed are
healthy, and not too closely inbred, that we, without thought, carelessly ruin
all the good work, time and effort that the past and present breeders have put
into breeding big, healthy, disease free and defect free cats. We need to
protect our breed to help continue the formation of this magnificent breed and
carry it on into the future.